Krieg's Tina
by Insanity Gained
Summary: A short first person narrative of the Krieg's "sane" voice, narrating the adventure he and Krieg had just endured. WARNING: Unconfirmed rumors are used as canon here. YMMV, don't yell at me for it.
1. The Story

It's often I wonder. Which one of us is truly real? Am I the voice in your head? Or are you the defence mechanism that's keeping me away from control, until I'm ready to go back?

Are you the heart and hate, and am I the mind and reason?

Ages ago, people were asking interesting questions about that. What makes a human? Am I human? A voice with no vessel, stuck in someone else's body?

Things were simple before I met the Siren. You didn't listen to me, and I just… sat back in a metaphorical lounge chair and watched you murder, slaughter and occasionally mention the odd vehicle made out of anything but metal.

"I powder my cockateel for the ribcage slaughter."

Guess those words warranted for a bigger change in our lives than we'd ever have imagined.

Words that set in motion a rollercoaster of battles and a holocaust' worth of bandit and robot killings.

You know what I would do if you'd ever hurt an innocent creature. But deep inside, we both were happy with how things were going. You don't care if it's a baby or a bandit, you just thirst for blood. Lucky for you, we've got more bandits than babies in Pandora.

But things also became complicated… In our destructive derby with Jack as it's finale, my heart (whatever metaphor it may be) grew soft. I saw her again…

If you'd stop being a blind and meat hungry idiot, you'd see she's safe, dammit. Everyone with a sane mind around her could tell her crazy attitude is her defence mechanism. Her only way she's kept herself safe. And when I saw Roland became her substitute father… a role I failed to continue… I was happy enough, even for a little while.

As she instructed our 'gang' of violent heroes on whatever needed to be done, we always kept to the background. Made sure she didn't recognize us. She probably couldn't have anyway. A mask covers most of our face, our body mutated by Hyperion… by Jack…

Didn't we always want a washboard as a stomach? Something to grind cheese on? Guess we got more than we bargained for.

But she was safe, you know. Even though she didn't live in Sanctuary, I just knew the first Vault Hunters were looking after her.

God damn you, Jack. May the Devil shackle you tight in Hell, because there'll be eons worth of pain for you when I arrive.

So there she is now. Playing a board game with the remaining three original Vault Hunters. I was listening at the stairwell, the guys didn't want me to join in the interrogation… Figured we'd sort it so quick there'd probably be no chance for him to spill the beans.

I heard when she broke. When her friends witnessed her face her losses. When she yelled "I KNOW!" and her tears finally broke free. I told you to go up and hold her. Tell her she's not alone and you're there for her. Tell her the world will never hurt her as long as it can be cleaved by your axe.

But… I guess we're not there yet. Even in all the good we've done, with us working together better than ever… We still have a lot of progress to make. And someday, we might take off our mask and show her that daddy's still here. Watching over her in our own silent, yet loud, demeanour.

I pray they'll watch over her. Because we're not done yet with the killing. We're not done at all.


	2. Afterword

Afterword

With the positive reception this short bit received, I felt it was appropriate to divert at least a little bit about this and my stance on several things.  
I'll try and keep it contextually relevant, though.

**The idea** really started with a simple video on Youtube about the possibility of Krieg being Tina's father, after I had started suspecting the same thing. I toyed with the idea, keeping the 'sane' voice in mind through it all, wondering where he fits in all this...

In a way, a bit like this could only have worked as a Fanfiction for Borderlands. The Universe is so perfectly laid out to allow those moments of 'feelings'. In fact, Borderlands seems like the reversal of a comic relief. Keeping you amused throughout, but sometimes bringing you back down to earth to show you these are supposed to be people, and these tragedies are... well, tragedies. Not to mention that there's always this hidden sublayer of story that you can only uncover when you look for it, while not bothering the gamer who just wants the Gameplay.

For example, every week Gearbox gets someone of their Borderlands dev team to write a bit about how they felt about making the game. There was one post that I took special note of. The dev described a specific spot of brilliance in the story. Did you know that there was, up to a point, no sure way to tell who really was the villain? Sure, Jack is hunting a vault to get ultimate power, but in response you resort to performing a bandit holocaust and crippling the entire Hyperion company. Even Tannis confirmed that many bandits simply were ex-Dahl employees, resorting to banditry to feed their families. Eventually they felt it was appropriate to include a point where Jack really pulls an evil move, which reassures you that you're still the 'good guy'.

But that entire process is interesting to observe in a replay. Almost the entire story is a case of action and response. You cripple Jack's progress, Jack does something in return. So in a Universe where anti-Heroes fight a Villain, it's easy to understand that the line becomes blurry. And it's this kind of sublayer of emotion and 'seriousness' that made me feel entitled, or at least allowed, to write this fanfiction.

At the same time, all of this serves as an inconspicuous way to weed out those who play Borderlands for the story from those who just want the Gameplay. The common notion seems to be that, if someone dislikes Tiny Tina, they either do because of her quirkiness or because they fail/refuse to see the subtext behind her behaviour. As implied in the story, I deem it a defence mechanism. Actually, many cases of people 'losing it' are people simply trying to cope with the reality they're starting to find themselves in. Often an unfortunate one.

**The title** _Krieg's Tina_ was actually a working title, and the entire story wasn't even meant to be released to begin with. But when I got around to publishing this on Fanfiction anyway, I had grown used to the name so much, I kind of left it in. It early on reveals the direction the short will take, but doesn't confront you with it. Naming it _Krieg is Tina's Dad_ sounds lame as a washcloth and wouldn't entice anyone. Not even myself.

**My plans**? Do more, but in the way I feel like it. I personally feel that first person narratives can be considered the easier method of storytelling, so I only use them in stories that would be troublesome to be told differently.

For example "It's not easy being Nyx" would have bluntly sounded like a written script for a screenplay if I just described what happened. There's not as much potential 'poetry' in Nyx as there is in the tortured and scarred Valkur. But I still wanted to delve a little deeper into the personal aspect, which required me to give Nyx a personality. And Warframe players know that, at least from the outside, Warframes seem very emotionless.

I don't like taking liberties like that, but sometimes it's that or dropping a concept I have in my mind. And to me, holding yourself back because of some silly standards and limitations is an easy way to stop enjoying what you do. If I write something I wanted to write but when I deem it bad in my post-review of it (I always re-read my work) I'll simply not publish it or rework it.

I might make more of Borderlands, but I really am careful about the liberties I'm taking. I don't, for example, want to portray Lillith as sexually promiscuous simply because I would happen to have a story in mind that goes that direction (I actually don't). While I dislike limiting myself, I do want to keep a sense of respect for the characters. I don't want to portray a different personality if there's already been one established. But if I happen to portray Lillith as a woman who's insecure in any current/potential relationships, you can count that as legit... Just check the TV screens in her base.

So, I hope you enjoyed the short story. And I hope I'll get to please you again.


End file.
